The great secret of life is apparently… Oatmeal?!

HOoomg. You. Guys.

I just discovered how to make the creamiest oatmeal EVER. In five minutes.

You see, I apparently LOOOVE creamy oatmeal. Except I didn’t really realize how much until I got oatmeal at work on Friday and was like, WHAT IS THIS?! How is it SO GOOD?! And then I started craving oatmeal. Don’t knock it till you try it… if you have to crave something it might as well be oatmeal, right?! Except that I knew I wasn’t craving the chewy-oaty kind I usually end up making at home, but this was baffling. What is the magical secret to creamy oatmeal that everyone had been holding out on me?!

BUT THEN.

I attempted to get oatmeal again at work last night because, well, you know, I was apparently still obsessed even though I’d had it for breakfast… and he MESSED. IT. UP. Who messes up oatmeal?! It was water. With bits of cooked oat floating in it. Um, excuse me? This so does not even kind of resemble oatmeal. Fail.

And I got irritated. Irritated enough to overcome my one (maybe two) day dependency on the oatmeal from work and figure out how to make creamy oatmeal fo’ myself! Annnddd…. I DID!! And it was AMAZING! And it took even less time than my usual oatmeal. And I will probably pretty much eat some form of oatmeal for all three meals for the next, oh, three days?! Abnormally obsessed. I knew I loved oatmeal for a reason…

And the best part is that it takes about five minutes, start to finish, annnnddd while it’s sitting you can do your oatmeal thang and cut up fruit or heat up lentils or beans or whatever you like in your oats (Hmm. I may in fact be the only one who lentils and beans apply to). Beets are good too, they turn it pink! Okay. Stopping now before you stop reading my blog on account of my weird sophisticated tastebuds…

PS. Sorry for the lousy pictures. I was halfway through my bowl before I went, Hey! I should blog about this! But by then my oatmeal (probably not the most photogenic food ever anyway) looked ugly. But it was delicious. So you get filtered phone pictures instead but seriously: if you like creamy oats, don’t let them deter you!! To make up for it, I’ve also included some photos of fun in the vegetable bed…

Creamy Oats!

Method culled from several sources and combined into a mishmash of what I liked. Recipe as written serves one, double/triple/intensify to suit your needs:

1/2 c rolled oats

1 c water

pinch of salt

See? Not even really a recipe, it has three ingredients… but. It’s. MAGIC.

Combine oats, water, and salt into a small saucepan. Cover, and bring to a rolling boil (watch it carefully, oats have a tendency to boil over and make your stove messy). Stir once, making sure all the oats are moistened, then cover the pot again and turn off the heat. Let it sit, covered, for about five minutes (do your oatmeal thang, cut up fruit, heat up beans or lentils or whatever weird things you like in your oats… oh wait, that’s just me), then stir and serve!! Amazing. Creamy oats. I am never ever ever returning to the chewy oat camp. Weelll… maybe. But not for right now ;)